Did Kelly Rowland Bleach Her Skin?

If you had any doubt Kelly Rowland took pride in her dark skin, allow the "When Love Takes Over" singer to quickly educate you.

On Wednesday (October 24), Rowland posted a series of Instagram photos that featured her in a pair of sleek sunglasses. What caught followers' attention, though, was Rowland's skin tone, which many commented seemed to be lighter. And some outright accused the singer of bleaching her complexion.

But Rowland quickly set the record straight, and in a series of related Instagram stories, corrected fans' errors, and insisted she had nothing but love for her dark skin.

“I just landed in L.A. and I saw that a lot of people are like, ‘Oh my god, she bleaches her skin!" Rowland began. “Now, I never answer questions like this because I think it’s so stupid… but I am not the one to bleach my skin, nor do I want to bleach my skin, nor do I have to bleach my skin...It’s not for me, so don’t go saying stupid stuff like that. You ever thought it could be the lighting…?”

“Dude, I am still chocolate, forever chocolate, proud to be chocolate! Shout out to all my chocolate girls!” she concluded.

“I had great women in my life to help me overcome that,” she said of potential insecurities about her skin. “I remember I went through a period where I didn’t embrace my ‘chocolatiness’. I don’t know if that’s a word, but I didn’t embrace my chocolate lifestyle. Just being a chocolate, lovely brown-skin girl and being proud of that."

“I remember Tina Knowles, Bey’s mum and I, I remember being out in the sun and I was trying to shield myself from the sun and she said, ‘Are you crazy?’" Rowland continued. "She said, ‘You are absolutely gorgeous,’ and she just told me how beautiful I was and how rare chocolate is and how gorgeous the skin is, all of this stuff. And I was just like ‘Yeah!’ Like, a light went off."